Rule of Law in Poland: double standards and abuse?

MCC Brussels

Today marks the first anniversary of Donald Tusk’s third government in Poland. On December 13, 2023, following the Polish parliamentary elections of October 15, 2023, a new Council of Ministers appointed by an alliance consisting of the center-left Civic Coalition, the center-liberal Poland 2050, the agrarian Polish People’s Party, and the Left was appointed. This followed eight years of rule by the more conservative United Right coalition led by Law and Justice (PiS).

The new Polish government headed by Donald Tusk, acting on the basis of ad hoc resolutions passed by the parliamentary majority it controls, informal “guidelines,” and the opinions of friendly lawyers then took numerous unlawful actions over the following ten months that were aimed at physically eliminating the opposition from the public space. These actions have harmed the foundations of the democratic state of law, leading to a revolutionary order of “transitional justice” and “militant democracy,” to which Mr. Tusk and his justice minister, Adam Bodnar, as well as other leaders of the left-liberal ruling coalition, have openly referred to justify their most obvious violations of the law.

Last month in Brussels, during a conference organized by Hungary’s Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), Jerzy Kwaśniewski, the chairman of the Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture, took part in a discussion over the rule of law in Poland.

What is going on in Poland should raise the alarm among conservatives in other Western liberal democracies, as it is the first time that the concept of “militant democracy,” invented as a response to the takeover of Germany by the Nazis through the ballot box, is used by the liberal Left in a post-WWII Western, democratic country to make sure the Right will never be able to come back to power. Transforming a constitutional democracy into a militant democracy is only possible with international support. Until now, Mr. Tusk and his friends have enjoyed such support from Brussels as well as from the Biden administration.

To better understand what has been going on in Poland during this first year of Donald Tusk’s government, we invite you to watch the discussion involving Polish lawyer Jerzy Kwaśniewski and politicians Tobiasz Bocheński (Law and Justice) and Anna Bryłka (Konfederacja) that took place last month in Brussels. Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, a former vice-president of the European Parliament and a former vice-chair of Donald Tusk’s Civic Platform (PO) party, was also present and took the floor several times to share his opinions and expertise on the subject.

See also:

• The Ordo Iuris Institute’s full report on one year of ruleof-law violations by the coalition government of Donald Tusk, published on December 13, 2024 (in Polish)
• A summary of those violations as of midOctober 2024 (in English)
• MCC Brussels’ own report on “Donald Tusk’s antidemocracy handbook” (in English)